Although we've both lived in CA our entire lives, that's no longer enough justification for remaining. We're leaving this festering boil on the ass of America. We're taking our retirement monies, PM's, skills - and most importantly from the perspective of California - our taxes, and we're going to use them more productively elsewhere.
We're in Idaho right now. This is our second trip to this fine state. We both made a similar comment yesterday: People are so nice.
We weren't talking about the people who are paid to be nice, such as hotel clerks. We're talking about regular people you interact with while out living life. "Hello," "Please," "Thank you," "Pardon me," are phrases nearly relegated to the history books in California. They're commonplace here.
I like that.
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I have a Utah non-resident concealed carry permit. As such, I'm able to carry concealed while in Idaho.
For those of you who are unaware, when you go to a state with another state's CCW, you must follow the laws of the state you're in, not the state that issued the CCW. As such, I was reacquainting myself with Idaho's gun laws.
Man, I love this place.
In California, the summary of our gun laws runs 66 pages (the last time I checked). Again, that's the summary, not all of the nitty-gritty legal crap that no one understands or can apply uniformly.
Idaho's gun laws - if I had to guess - run maybe 5 pages. Perhaps a bit more. Their summary fits neatly on a single web page [link]. I can summarize it in a couple of sentences.
As long as you're not a menace to society, you can exercise your constitutional right to protect yourself. Here are the handful of place where you can't carry a gun. If you act like an idiot with your gun, we'll take it, and your CCW away. Act lik an adult, and we'll treat you like an adult.Amazing. A state that recognizes that it has no need or desire to micro manage every aspect of a citizen's life. Especially when it comes to the most basic right of self-preservation. I think my wife and I are going to have to go to one of those Moonie Deprogramming-like workshops to clear the decades of Nanny State indoctrination to which we've been subjected.
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Sorry, but I can't find the link, but when I was getting reacquainted with Idaho's gun laws, I ran across a big Middle Digit Salute to the federal government. The state legislature passed laws asserting that guns made in Idaho and which remain in Idaho are not subject to federal oversight or control. Since they don't cross state borders - which would trigger the much abused Commerce Clause - the tenth amenment applies, which confers sovereign power to the states.
I had seen similar laws being drafted or passed in Montana and Wyoming (I believe) but hadn't heard about anything in Idaho.
I dig it.
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I'm going to be using my SmartCarry holster (link to my April review) while in Idaho. I've worn it while at our PM shop, but never for a long period of time when I'm up-and-down and driving a lot.
I'll publish my additional thoughts in a later post.
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My wife has picked 4 years as the horizon for her retirement from her current position. My dream would be to identify a property in the near-term and buy it now. Many of the properties are currently producing cash crops. Orchards, hay, even corn (none with that Idaho super-star - spuds). Buy the property and let it pay for itself until we move and run it ourselves.
I've got a family friend who owns and operates orchards who can give me information on what to ask and look for when dealing with fruit. Hay, that's another issue.
I've been looking at a number of sites with information on growing and marketing the stuff, but I can 't tell how you make a buck at it. It looks like hay sells for about $200+/- a ton. Is that how much the farmer gets after it is cut, baled, stacked and shipped? That's what I'm guessing.
That's before you factor in the cost of seed, water, cutting, baling, stacking and shipping. How much does all of that mess cost?
Also, I've seen some info on yields per acre. I saw one that said in Idaho, they were getting 4 tons per acre. Does anyone know if that's per cutting or gross per year? If it's the latter, I don't know how you make any money, unless you get on the Nanny State Farm Subsidy Train, or have a zillion acres to cut.
Any insight anyone has got would be much appreciated.
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3 comments:
Check out Wyoming too Chief. It also has lots going for it from the liberty perspective.
On your hay question- it's possibly the gross of two or three cuttings per season. (Hay is like your lawn and keeps growing.) $200 a ton seems pretty low to me when I think of getting 3 to 4 bucks a clover bale here, bales being between 60 and 80 pounds. Unless you do the round bales- those are about a ton each and go for 2 to 3 hundred depending on which cut it is.
More than likely, your hay market will be local, or close, with exceptions being a drought hit area, then your price goes up as does the shipping, etc.
Take this with a grain of salt, though: I'm a MN farm boy and it's a whole new world out west.
Hay - you make money because the land is paid for - the best hay (down here) are on properties that were homesteaded during the land run and have been in the families for years or at the very least are paid for. The land would probably sit fallow if not used. Also, most pasture isnt cut for hay year round - it has maybe 2 or more cuttings but also grows wheat and corn and maybe soy and an winter cover crop. That said - if you have a mature pasture, and hay is all you do and you dont run anything on it, you do not need to seed - you just cut when long enough, let dry, bale and let it keep growing. And most of your customers should come from around you - you do not ship states away, unless you are Texas and have been in drought for years. You can also have people come get the hay and thus further reduce your costs - you would also need to give a price break. I would suggest you not purchase the equipment to hay yourself, but you can pay someone that already does this - lease out the land and then making the buck is the hayer's problem.
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